Adjustable pattern sprinkler



March 12, 1963 w. F. KENNEDY 3,081,037

ADJUSTABLE PATTERN SPRINKLER Filed May 29, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 1INVENTOR.

WJL M'L 0 March 1953 w. P. KENNEDY 3,081,037

ADJUSTABLE PATTERN SPRINKLER Filed May 29, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 15 Z 3FIG. g g i l6 2 r 3 9 J :1 g 5/ 2 /IIIIIIIIIIII j F l G. 6 I (I :2 FIG.9 fi w /.T? FIG 8 3 1 INVENTOR. III/II FIG. 7

United States Patent 3,081,037 ADJUSTABLE PATTERN SPRINKLER William P.Kennedy, 304 Freyer Drive, Marietta, Ga. Filed May 29, 1962, Ser. No.198,514 9 Claims. (Cl. 239-97) This invention relates to water motorpowered irrigation sprinkling devices that have rotary waterdistribution means and is particularly concerned with such devices thatembody cam means mounted interchangeably upon the body of the devicewith said cam means enabling t.e device to sprinkle any one of amultiplicity of area spray patterns.

The sprinkler of the present invention has certain features of controland operation similar to, and represents improvements over, thesprinkler shown in my Patent No. 3,026,044, dated March 20, 1962.

The principal object of this invention is to provide means to reduce thepower required for rotation of the distribution means so as to enablethe device to sprinkle a greater range of pattern sizes than heretoforepossible.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device composed offewer and less complex parts than previous sprinklers of this type whichwould result in a lower price and less possibility of misadjustment inuse.

It is another object of the invention to provide a structure that isdesigned so as to greatly reduce the possibility of damage to the devicefrom careless grasping of the sprinkler by a user in moving it from onelocation toanother, with the attendant dragging of an attached hoseline, by having the logical handhold portions of the device of a natureto withstand such usage.

Numerous other objects, features, and advantages of the presentstructure will be apparent from the consideration of the followingspecification taken into conjunction with the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of the device.

FIG. 2 is a front elevation of the device with certain auxiliary partsremoved and the base fragmented so as to show the basic machine moreclearly.

FIG. 3 is a view of the top of the device with the base not shown.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a portion of FIG. 1 with one of thedevices valve fluid control ports shown fully closed.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of FIG. 4, taken on the line AA.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view of a portion of FIG. 4, showingthe valve aforementioned fluid control port fully opened.

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary sectional view of the aforementioned fluidcontrol port showing alternate means to actuate the ports sliding coverby means of water pressure without the use of a spring as previouslyshown.

FIG. 8 is a plan view in reduced scale of the base portion of the devicewith the distribution head removed so as to show means for stationingcams.

FIG. 9 is a plan view in reduced scale of a cam showing its split andhinged construction.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 1 designates the base of thedevice upon which a water motor 2 is fixedly mounted. Water enters themotor through the hose coupling connection 3 and passes to a cylinder 4within the motor. This cylinder includes a permanently open port 5 whichdirects a portion of the entering water so as to activate a water wheel6 which transmits its motion through a worm gear train to the gear 7stationed on the lower end of a hollow revolvable spindle 8 upon whichis threadedly connected at its other end a distribution head 9. Thishead includes an inclined nozzle 10 from which all water entering themotor is distributed. Pivotally cam is precluded by means of theremovable pin 20.

3,081,037 Patented Mar. 12, 1963 mounted upon the head is a lever 11which includes a roller 12 at one end and a plate 13 at its other endwhich contacts one end of a plunger 14 which has mounted on its otherend a hollow circular sleeve 15. This sleeve is closely fitted butreadily slideable within the cylinder 4 and is stationed so as tocontrol flow of water through the elongated port 16. This action isshown in FIGS. 4 and 6. As the valve sleeve 15 is moved varyingly acrossthe elongated port 16 it not only increases or decreases the flow fromsaid port but causes an increase or decrease in the velocity of the flowemitting from the permanently open port 5. It can thus be seen that atsuch time the port 16 is fully open maximum flow would emit the nozzle10 but at this time minimum flow would be emitting from port 5 and thusimpart a slow rotation to the water wheel 6. On the other hand, when theport 16 is fully closed minimum flow would emit the nozzle but maximumflow with a higher velocity would be emitting from port 5 thus drivingthe Water wheel at its fastest rotation. This arrangement causes thedistribution head to revolve fastest when the nozzle stream is shortestand to revolve slowest when the nozzle stream is longest with rotationalspeeds and stream ranges between these points being proportional. Thisvariable speed of rotation is essential to proper distribution ofsprinkled fluid in a device of this nature, the speed required on ashort throw being much faster than that required on a long throw.

The revolvable spindle 8 is supported by an integrally formed spindlehousing 17 on the water motor with said sleeve being doubly flanged at18 so as to support a hingedly split cam 19. Lateral turning of thesupported As the distribution head 9 revolves, the roller 12 and thelever 11 follows the contour of the mounted cam, the force required forcontact being imparted by means of the expansive spring 21 in thecylinder 4 as shown in FIGS. 4 and 6 or by means of water pressure aloneas shown in FIG. 7. The variable contour of the cam would cause thelever 11 to move in and out as the distribution head revolves and thusactivate the plunger 14 and thus control the ports in the cylinder 4which would con trol the speed of rotation and length of stream of thewater emitting from the nozzle 10* and thus produce an area irrigationpattern substantially in conformance with the shape of a cam stationedupon the device.

Leakage of water between the spindle 8 and the spindle housing 17 isprecluded by means of the water seal washer 22. Water pressure withinthe motor causes a tighter seat on this washer as the pressure withinthe motor increases. The present structure, as differentiated fromprevious structures of this type, avoids a tightening of this seal whenthe nozzle flow is reduced by means of placing the valve on the watersupply side of the seal. This arrangement causes the seal to be loosestwhen the flow out of the nozzle is reduced and the nozzle stream isshortest, and to be tightest when the flow from the nozzle is fullestand the nozzle stream is longest thereby distinctly aiding the action ofthe ports 5 and 16 in causing an increase in rotational speed by thehead the more the volume of distributed Water is reduced.

In order to obtain proper distribution of Water in the central portionof a pattern, a spinnable wheel 23 is mounted upon the distribution head9 with the wheel adjustable vertically into the jet stream emitting fromthe nozzle 10. Adjustment into the jet stream is made by means of thethreaded bolt 24. This feature is shown by FIGS. 1 and 3. It is possibleto cause this vertical diffusion of the nozzle jet stream by cutting avertical slot into the lower side of the nozzles round discharge openingbut such an arrangement would not be as satisfactory as a verticallyadjustable wheel for this purpose because of such a nozzles lack ofadjustability. Under some circumstances a combination of adjustablespinner and slotted nozzle would possibly be desirable, such as in thecase of extremely low water pressures.

It is believed that the nature and advantages of my invention will beclear from the foregoing description. Having thus described myinvention, I claim:

1. A cam-controlled pattern sprinkler, including a base, a fluid-tighthousing fixedly mounted upon said base, with said housing encasing areduction geared water motor with a fluid entry in said housing to saidmotor and a fluid exit in said housing from said motor with means tostation a pattern cam upon said housing, a rotary distribution headincluding a jet stream producing nozzle with said distribution headbeing mounted upon said housing at said fluid exit and rotated by saidwater motor, fluid volume control means to cause said nozzle to emit avariable short to long range jet stream, means to cause the rotationspeed of said distribution head to increase when said nozzle emits ashort range jet stream and the rotation speed of said distribution headto decrease when said nozzle emits a long range jet stream and in whichsaid fluid volume control means include a cylinder with one fluid entryand two fluid exits with one exit being permanently open to deliverfluid to drive a water wheel in said Water motor and the other exithaving means to deliver fluid bypassing said wheel and having means tobe variably opened and closed to vary flow of fluid from said exit bymeans in association with and controlled by said pattern cam.

2. The device as claimed in claim 1, in which the action of said fluidvolume control means is controlled by said pattern cam by means of levermeans in association with said fluid volume control means and saidpattern cam.

3. The device as claimed in claim 1, in which said rotary distributionhead is mounted upon a spindle revolvable within a spindle housingintegral to said Water motor with said spindle including a seal toprevent leakage between said spindle and said spindle housing, means tocause friction upon said seal to be least when said jet emitting fromsaid nozzle is shortest and friction upon said seal to be greatest whensaid jet emitting from said nozzle is longest.

4. The device as claimed in claim 3, in which said effect upon said sealis the result of placing said fluid volume control means between saidfluid entry means and said seal.

5. The device as claimed in claim 1, in which said means to vary flowfrom said'variable flow exit include a movable sleeve slideable within ahousing including said exit and variably blocking fluid flow from saidexit by means of said sleeve variably covering said exit.

6. The device as claimed in claim 5, in which the movement of saidsleeve in one direction is imparted by means in association with saidpattern cam and in the other direction by means of an expansive spring.

7. The device as claimed in claim 5, in which the movement of saidsleeve in one direction is imparted by means in association With saidpattern cam and in the other direction by means of water pressure.

8. The device as claimed in claim 1 including means to adjustablydiffuse said jet stream emitting from said nozzle, in which saiddifiusion means include a spinnable wheel adjustable into or out of saidjet stream emitting from said nozzle.

9. The device as claimed in claim 3, in which the final gear of saidreduction geared water motor is aflixed to and revolves said spindle.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,601,559 Riblet June 24, 1952 2,780,488 Kennedy Feb. 5, 1957 2,962,220Woods Nov. 29, 1960 3,026,044 Kennedy Mar. 20, 1962

1. A CAM-CONTROLLED PATTERN SPRINKLER, INCLUDING A BASE, A FLUID-TIGHTHOUSING FIXEDLY MOUNTED UPON SAID BASE, WITH SAID HOUSING ENCASING AREDUCTION GEARED WATER MOTOR WITH A FLUID ENTRY IN SAID HOUSING TO SAIDMOTOR AND A FLUID EXIT IN SAID HOUSING FROM SAID MOTOR WITH MEANS TOSTATION A PATTERN CAM UPON SAID HOUSING, A ROTARY DISTRIBUTION HEADINCLUDING A JET STREAM PRODUCING NOZZLE WITH SAID DISTRIBUTION HEADBEING MOUNTED UPON SAID HOUSING AT SAID FLUID EXIT AND ROTATED BY SAIDWATER MOTOR, FLUID VOLUME CONTROL MEANS TO CAUSE SAID NOZZLE TO EMIT AVARIABLE SHORT TO LONG RANGE JET STREAM, MEANS TO CAUSE THE ROTATIONSPEED OF SAID DISTRIBUTION HEAD TO INCREASE WHEN SAID NOZZLE EMITS ASHORT RANGE JET STREAM AND THE ROTATION SPEED OF SAID DISTRIBUTION HEADTO DECREASE WHEN SAID NOZZLE EMITS A LONG RANGE JET STREAM AND IN WHICHSAID FLUID VOLUME CONTROL MEANS INCLUDE A CYLINDER WITH ONE FLUID ENTRYAND TWO FLUID EXITS WITH ONE EXIT BEING PERMANENTLY OPEN TO DELIVERFLUID TO DRIVE A WATER WHEEL IN SAID WATER MOTOR AND THE OTHER EXITHAVING MEANS TO DELIVER FLUID BYPASSING SAID WHEEL AND HAVING MEANS TOBE VARIABLY OPENED AND CLOSED TO VARY FLOW OF FLUID FROM SAID EXIT BYMEANS IN ASSOCIATION WITH AND CONTROLLED BY SAID PATTERN CAM.